Damaged
by Rainbows28
Summary: SEQUEL to BROKEN. You all watched Buffy go through her secrets and hide things from the ones she loves. Now, it's Angel's turn. What is he hiding from Buffy? What lies will he tell to keep the truth hidden? Will their love survive the demons in Angel's past? Come and find out. AH. AU. Buffy/Angel all the way! Possible lemons.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: HI EVERYONE! I'm back with this sequel to _Broken_. If you have not read it, I strongly suggest you do. Otherwise some things in here will be pretty confusing. That being said, it is a different story, so be bad and go for it anyway ;)**

 **This is going to delve in Angel's past and it is quite horrific. I came up the with the idea a few days ago and thought, 'why the fuck not?' so I'm going with it. It has been pretty hard for me to decide which past is worse, Angel's or Buffy's, so I'm going to let you all make that own personal decision. Alright, I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Nope. I own NOTHING. Sadly. *weeps***

 **Alright guys, now remember this story is new and it has a lifeline, which is you guys. So that means Review for more. No reviews no chapters. It's like a barter economy, reviews for chapters :)**

 **Anyway . . . Happy Reading!**

* * *

Secrets are lies. Buffy is extremely aware of this fact because most of her life has been about secrets. She knows what they mean. They mean little white tall-tales that equal into a snowballing lie. There is no way around it. One cannot keep a secret without lying and Angel, he was keeping a secret. She wasn't judging. She had no right to, but lying, cheating, and abuse, those were her deal breakers and she didn't want a deal breaker in her relationship with him.

These past eleven months with him have been great. Junior year has been great. She felt more relaxed, calmer. Of course their relationship hadn't escalated from anything other than hand holding and extremely hot and heavy make-out sessions. She was comfortable with this, but she was worried he wasn't. He continued to say that he was and she knew this was paranoia, on her part.

However, the phone calls he would sneak off to take or the texts he would hide from her, those aren't anything bred from paranoia. They're secrets. They're lies and everyone is entitled to their own privacy. She's fine with that, she just wished he didn't have to hide it from her. A 'it's nothing, Buffy.' Doesn't cut it with her, because everything is something, even if it's a miniscule part of his life.

Great, he was turning her into some clingy girl. Has she ever mentioned that she hated him? Well, she does. She also loves him to a point that is near painful. So, she's stuck. She's also pacing. Ethan has been yelling to stop creating a draft for the past hour. She was ignoring him. Then a knock.

"Okay, jeez, E! No more pacing, I got it!" She yelled through the door and fell face first onto her bed. Her door opened and she groaned, burying her face in the fluffy bedding.

"I don't want a lecture!" She screamed into the blankets, making it a muffled growl.

She was just about to push up when strong hands gripped her hips and moved her up the bed. She blinked down at the comforter, before squealing and spinning around, coming face to face with beautiful chocolate browns.

"Angel!" She grinned and moved, crushing her mouth to his. He chuckled against her lips, sliding his fingers through her hair as his knees rested on either side of her hips.

"I wasn't going to lecture you. What's with the pacing?" He asked softly, trailing his lips gently along her jaw, causing his warm breath to fan across her face. Right now, she didn't know why she was denying sex. Maybe it was because of the total self-loathing she got whenever thinking about it. She sighed and fell flat on her back.

"It's nothing." She lied. God, she was suck a fucking hypocrite.

"Liar." He called her out and lucky for her, he could see right through her bullshit. She smiled and turned her mouth from his, he dropped a kiss on her cheek with a whine, like a toddler being denied their favorite toy. She rolled her eyes.

"You're such a big baby." She mumbled, fiddling with the collar of his shirt and moving up, pressing her lips softly to his. She pulled back slowly and felt the playful air shift, like it usually does. Into something hotter. Something far more sexually charged. Like a palpable need in the air. She pushed on his chest and he rolled over, resting on his back.

She sat up and rested her forearms on her knees. She was so fucking ridiculous. She wanted him. She trusted him. What in the fucking hell was holding her back? Oh right, the elephant in the room. Speaking off . . .

His phone buzzed and he glanced at it. You see that? The way his eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed? Yeah, that was him bracing, knowing he needed to close off because Buffy was an intuitive bitch and he was keeping something from her. She shrugged off the hurt and went for casual.

"What's that?" She asked, going to fall next to him, just as the side of her body collided with mattress he was standing, and slipping his phone away. He bent over and pecked her cheek.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked and she grabbed the collar of his t-shirt again with two of her fingers, staring up at him and searching his eyes. Other people, she had no problem reading. At all. She could read Angel's emotions, his actions, she just couldn't read his eyes and it terrified her, because she could read everyone's eyes. Of course her ability would be completely dormant around the one person she actually wanted to read.

"Yes, I'm fine. What about you? Are you okay?" She asked and he stared at her for a moment.

"I have to go." He dodges and she blinked at the back of his head. Her eyes narrowed as she sat up.

"You always have to go. Where are you going, exactly?" Buffy asked and Angel glanced back at her.

"Nowhere important, princess, okay?" He asked. Did you see _that_? The tense voice, the annoyance flashing in his eyes? No? Well, it's there, crystal clear to Buffy.

"Okay, great, but you're leaving and you won't tell me where. Are you going home?" Buffy asked and his jaw tightened as he cracked his fingers. The sound made her flinch. She blinked, her nails digging into her comforter as she desperately pushed at the overwhelming feeling of danger she felt whenever around him. It had heightened with the more and more time they spent together.

She wasn't afraid of him, that wasn't the problem. The problem was the fact that she knew she _should_ be afraid of him.

"No, I'm just – Buffy, I have to go somewhere. Can't you just trust me?" He asked, staring down at her and she stared up at him. _No, I can't_. She didn't voice this thought, though.

"Of course." She lied. _Hypocrite_.

"I just." She slide to the end of the bed.

"I just want to know what's going on. Please, just tell me." Buffy says and Angel got onto his knees in front of her, holding onto her hands on her thighs.

"Buffy, you're just being paranoid. There is _nothing_ to tell. I promise." He lied. Buffy stared at him, he moved and kissed her cheek.

"I'll call you later, just stuff with . . . Kathy." He answered. That was a cruel lie. But she didn't call him on it. She just nodded and let go of his hand, her heart squeezing in her chest. He smiled tightly and moved, leaving. Buffy watched the door for a while after that.

It wasn't about Kathy. If it was, he would have just told her that. He used it as a deflection and he knew her feelings on Kathy. He knew about Dawn, so saying that he needed to go take care of that, was just wrong in her eyes. He was lying to her and she was lying to him because she was pretending it didn't bother her.

She fell flat onto her back and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. Then she closed her eyes and did something she hadn't ever done.

 _Dear God, you've taken everything else, as far as I'm concerned. Don't take him. Take anything else. Please, don't take him. He's mine._

The tears burned and fell into her temples. She grabbed her pillow and burrowed into it. She always said Angel had the power to destroy her. That's what love is. Giving someone the power to break you, but trusting them not to. That was love. The most clear definition and heartbreak was what you experienced when they did break you. Buffy was broken by her mother and father countless times. She had no trust left. Yet she conjured some up for Angel, even though she barely survived the last blow to her heart.

If he broke her, she was positive that nothing and no one would come along to heal her this time. So she prayed that something, anything out there would give her strength and perhaps a little luck. Didn't she deserve that?


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Alright, can I just say that I actually love this story? It's pretty easy writing something without having to truly worry about the character developments. Now I understand why I always enjoy the second book to a series more than the first one.**

 **You get a little bit of Angel POV. Which I like because it's easier to tell a story about someone if they're telling you themselves. Don't forget to review, they're a lifeline people! :)**

 **Disclaimer: Sadly no. I own nothing. I wish I owned something that someone else wanted to recreate so that they could explain to everyone that they didn't own it. *sigh***

 **Hehe . . . Happy Reading.**

* * *

"Connor!" Buffy yells sprinting at full speed through the high school courtyard. She reaches him and very nearly slides on the gravel ground. Connor chuckles catching her waist.

"Buffy, hey there." Connor says through his laugh. Buffy stared up at him. Connor was attractive. Extremely so. Tall, like his brother, except where Angel's hair is a dark brown, Connor's is raven black. Cut short and not spiked. As if he really couldn't give two shits about it at all. Then there was his eyes. They were wide and a dark electric blue. His beauty was nearly as perfect as Angel and it still seemed to startle Buffy at how muscular and well-built he was.

She shook her head. "Where's Angel? Did he always miss this much school? The only reason I come is for him you know." Buffy decides to go with the joking route to keep her exterior casual and calm. Connor smiles, tensely. The thing about Connor, was, that unlike his brother, Buffy could see right through him.

"He's uh . . . around." You see that? The high pitched voice of a kid already far past that stage of puberty? The way he rubs the back of his head with his hand while glancing at anything other than her? That was called open deflection and one day, Buffy was going to have a chat with the boy about it. Because it wasn't an advantage to have everyone able to read you like a book.

"Connor, I've been everywhere. I even texted him. I'm going out of my mind, is he sick?" Buffy asked, yeah, she wasn't above guilt trip. Not that the moment anyway. Connor shifted his weight and shook his head.

"No, he – uh, he went out of town." Connor stammered and Buffy stared at the boy, her lips parted.

"He went out of town? When?!" Buffy shrieks and Connor, clasps his hands behinds his back and lowers his eyes, looking very much like a child receiving a scolding. Which was pretty strange because he was over six feet tall.

"Um . . ." He starts and Buffy knew then that while he wanted to tell her, he wasn't going to. Brotherhood overtrumped brother's girlfriend any day. She spun on her heel and marched off, before breaking into another sprint. She got to her car when her phone exploded in rings. Figuring it was Angel she answered immediately.

"Angel-." Buffy was cut off.

"No, sorry, Buffy, it's Jenny. I was just wondering, if you could pick Kathy up from school? I'm terribly sorry about the inconvenience, but Giles is . . . out of town and I have a meeting I have to get too with Connor." Jenny says, sounding rushed and Buffy blinks. _Out of town_? When in the fuck did Angel go out of town? And why didn't he tell her? Was she overreacting? No, actually, she didn't think she was. How hard was it to send a little text or call explaining that he would be leaving _town_. She didn't need an explanation, but information would have been better.

"Y-yeah, Kathy sure." Buffy stammered, feeling her anger rising as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Buffy said her goodbyes and hung up, pulling out of the parking lot and driving toward the elementary school for Kathy. Buffy found her waiting by the lot and when Kathy's eyes landed on Buffy's jeep. She grinned and made her way over.

"Hey, kid." Buffy greeted as Kathy settled in the front seat. Kathy was bouncing and Buffy smiled slightly.

"Hi!" Kathy squealed. Her emotions were all haywire because of the anti-depressants from Oz, but from what Jacqueline had told Buffy, Kathy was coming along great. She still had the tendency to copy others and close in on herself, but Withers was confident that with the medication and prescriptions, along with the therapy that she would lead a relatively normal life.

Buffy knew that Kathy could grow to resent the medication and therapy. She also knew that Kathy could go off her meds and that – well, Buffy didn't want to think about that.

"So . . ." Buffy started, knowing that she was going to go to hell for her next actions.

"How's Angel?" Buffy glanced out of the window and Kathy shrugged, not noticing as she fiddled in her backpack.

"He's fine." Kathy answers, still sounding distracted. Buffy bit the inside of her cheek and tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel as guilt and curiosity warred in her heart and mind. Curiosity won.

"Do you remember where Angel was going? He told me, but I can't seem to remember what he said." Buffy laughed it off, feeling the guilt at this . . . well this blatant manipulative lie, but hey, Buffy never claimed to be an angel. In fact, she could be downright demonic when trying to figure out what was going on with her Angel.

"He went to see his dad." Kathy answered, opening a pack of skittles. Dread and different scenarios raced through her mind as Buffy tried to understand what could be so bad that Angel wouldn't' tell her he went to go see his _father_.

Was he ashamed of her? Did he think she couldn't handle it?

Then Buffy remembered that Angel said his father was extremely abusive. Was he protecting her? What was going on?! She was going out of her mind and that was supposed to only happen with her own shit. Fuck.

"Right, his dad and Connor didn't want to go." Buffy guess and that gained Kathy's attention. Suspicion narrowed the little girl's eyes as she inquired Buffy as if Buffy were the idiot.

"No, Connor can't go. You have to be eighteen years or older." Kathy said as if this were common information. _Eighteen years or older_?

"The courts said that?" Buffy concluded, but it was a question and Kathy shrugged.

"The entire world knows that, Buffy. Connor's too young to visit the prison." Kathy huffed and shook her head, going back to her skittles. Buffy was no longer breathing. She was freaking out; yes, but breathing? No. She wasn't doing that.

This made sense, but why would Angel go visit his father? In a prison no less. Buffy never missed the pure hatred or distain that would emanate from Angel whenever Buffy tried to bring up his father. He was never angry with her about it. He was just angry.

Buffy released a worried breath, oxygen allowing the squeezing in her chest to loosen the burning in her lungs to release. She hadn't even realized it.

•••

Angel walked down the familiar grey and empty halls of the Los Angeles state penitentiary. Giles next to him with two guards leading them down to the familiar waiting room. FBI Agent Jack Bishop walked next to Angel in his usual crisp suit, black coffee in hand, steaming hot in a white foam cup. In all honesty, the coffee didn't look like coffee at all, but to Angel it looked like black sludge and Angel knew, the man lived on the stuff.

Angel came to stand in front a large metal door to the interrogation room. One he'd stood in front of countless times since he was fourteen. And just like every other time a feeling of icy dread pooled in the bottom of his stomach, along with the guilt. Always the guilt, because behind this door was a reminder. A reminder of all the horrible, despicable acts he'd been forced to do.

Every single face of every victim to ever die at his hands would flash his mind and over the past eleven months one face would come at the very end of the internal picture show. Buffy. She'd hate him, if she knew. She'd loathe him and despise him and he'd lose her. He wasn't going to let that happen.

Jack grasped the back of his neck with a strong hand, "Alright, son. You go in there and you keep everything calm. Here." Jack handed him a list. A folded piece of yellow paper, the entire page filled with names in seemingly endless rows and columns.

Some were crossed out, but most were just there, glaring at him. Blaming him. He folded it and cleared his throat, pushing the emotions back. Emotions weren't something you used in this type of situation.

"Okay, Angel, you go in there and you try to get as much information out of him as you can. Understand? You need to get out, you just knock on the door, we'll be watching. Keep him talking. Alright?" Jack asked and Angel nodded once, Jack patted his back in reassurance before walking toward a door leading to a room where he, several guards, and his stepfather would be watching the events unfold.

With a deep breath, he shoved Buffy out of his mind or at least into the very far corners. She had no business near this room and he had no business thinking about her while in the presence of pure evil.

He entered and shut the door, looking to the middle of the room. At a simple, clean metal table, in an equally metal chair chained to the ground, sat a man in a bright orange jumpsuit. Each hand was cuffed while his legs were chained to the chair. Angel wasn't intimidated. Actually, he wished they hadn't chained the motherfucker up. Angel would enjoy delivering a few blows to the bastard's face.

The man looked up and eyes that mirrored his own, met Angel's. A slow, devilish grin spread across the older man's face.

"Angelus." He greeted, still grinning. A face that rivaled the Joker's. A face that would have brought the devil himself to his knees. Angel nodded once and greeted him.

"Dad."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: First things first, I want all of my lovelies readers to know that I love you all dearly and I cannot express in words how grateful I am that you take the time to read and enjoy my stories, but there seems to be some miscommunication. So I'll clear that up.**

 **I. Hate. Pregnancies. If the story doesn't call for it, I find it to be uncalled for and irrational. So the only time I'll ever put an unplanned pregnancy or a child in my story, is if it belongs to the main couple or the story is wrapping up and the pregnancy is just a nice little goodbye gift.**

 **I didn't like the storyline of Connor on Angel, it was actually one of the reasons I stopped watching the show for a long time. The other reason was that separating Buffy and Angel was the biggest crime every committed in TV history - of course this is just my opinion- but you have to admit both of the shows were just** ** _lacking_** **.**

 **Darla, yep, hated her too. In my opinion she should have just stayed dead. I liked her that way, like a lot. Oh and if Angel was** ** _so_** **broken up about Buffy that he decided to just lose his soul to forget her with Darla, of all fucking people, then why not just go back to Sunnydale and make us fans all happy again? -**

 **Whoa I am getting off track, this place is actually pretty therapeutic -** ** _Anyway_** **. . .**

 **Please read and review :)**

 **Enjoy . . .**

* * *

Buffy lay awake. Familiar, right? The whole insomnia bullshit that's she'd been granted after the murder of her mother, brother, sister, and father. The murder the committed. She had been tiny and yet she had beat her father to his death, the power in that single act made her need the pain again, but believe it or not that isn't what's keeping Buffy up tonight. In fact, it's the farthest thing from her mind.

Angel. Of course. Were you surprised? You shouldn't be. He's been her every waking thought and as of now she didn't know whether she wanted to kiss him the next time she saw him or beat the living shit out of him with a bat. Perhaps she had gone insane. She shrugged without a care, still staring up at her dark ceiling.

This, right here, was what she hadn't wanted. She hadn't wanted to need someone. She hadn't wanted to love someone else, to worry, and to risk losing another person. Then Beatrice and Ethan came along, she loved them, yes, but not in the way she loved Angel. Angel made her feel safe and calm, Ethan and Beatrice couldn't do that. Not in the same way at least.

A car noise outside broke her away from her thoughts. She stood up and moved toward her window. A black SUV pulled into the driveway next door. Buffy glared at it. Angel and Giles hopped out. Buffy opened her window and climbed out. She slid down the roof easily and turned, dropping the ten foot drop and landing gracefully on her feet. Perhaps she should join the army instead of Faith.

Buffy moved toward the two men who were staring, stunned at her. "Did you just . . . you just . . ." Giles shook his head and walked toward his house without a word.

Buffy completely shrugged off the older man and looked toward Angel, "Hi stranger, you've been gone for like two days. No texts, no calls. You're driving me insane, Angel and that's saying something considering the shit in my past so . . ." Buffy trailed off, but Angel's eyes were glued to her forehead.

"I mean, am I being clingy? I don't want to be clingy, but _days_ without anything. You could have just texted 'I'm alive' and we leave it at that." Buffy waited and he still didn't say anything. What. The. Fuck?

Buffy gripped the end of her shorts, digging her nails into her palms through the fabric. The sharp sting seemed to get her emotions under control and she shook her head. "Do you want to break-up, or something?" Buffy asked, digging her teeth into her bottom lip before immediately releasing it. Angel looked at her, finally.

"Buffy – listen . . ." He trailed off and swallowed. That wasn't a no.

"I just don't think – we're going really fast and maybe . . ." He wasn't allowed to finish because she cut him off.

" _Really fast_? Oh right, because the L word has been used dozens of times and I'm spreading my legs every night, right too fast, exactly how slow do you want us to go because right now, we're at a snail pace?" Buffy asked, feeling her chest squeeze and her throat tighten while icy dread ran down her spine.

"Perhaps we should just stop completely. You're still dealing with things and I . . . can't handle it." The only reason she wasn't agreeing and walking away right now was because she could see the lie.

"That would be the billionth time you've lied to me in the past week. That shit with Kathy that you had to go deal with. Lie. The secret phone calls and texts. Lies. Are you cheating?" She was surprised by the hopefulness in her tone, because if he was cheating, then she could kick him in the balls and not have to blame herself. Then again, if he was cheating then she wasn't giving him what he wanted so she would blame herself. Damn it.

"What? Fuck no, Buffy, I'm not cheating on you. It's late." He says and I want to hit him. Hard.

"So that's it? Eleven months. It's too hard. It's over. That's what we're doing?" Buffy asked and Angel glanced at her quickly.

"Yeah, I mean like you said the L word hasn't been used so it can't mean that much to you. It doesn't mean that much to me, so why not? Clean break." He shrugged. Did you see that? The tall gorgeous blonde who slammed her palm into the side of his cheek. Yep, that happened, and the smacking sound that reverberated through the night air while his head jerked to the side and his cheek reddened, that was extremely satisfying to Buffy.

"That lie just got you what you wanted. Leave me the hell alone." Buffy spun on her heel and stormed back home. She barely got to her porch before hands gripped her hips and spun her around.

"I can't tell you." He says, his nostrils flaring and she stared up at him.

"I want to. I don't want to. I just – you need to trust me." He pleaded and her eyes narrowed.

"Trust you? How can I trust you when you don't give me any reason to? Every single word out of your mouth had been a lie. You just fucking broke up with me because you want a clean motherfucking break. What does that even mean?!" Buffy exclaimed, hands in the air.

"It means that I love you and I can't see you hurt." He said and Buffy froze. _I love you_.

"Well, you have a very funny way of showing it." And did you see that? The hurt that flashed his eyes, yet the acceptance? Yeah, that hurt Buffy. Did you see that other thing? Her deflection and the way her eyes shuttered, kind of like two steps back, right? Well, sue her, the guy is being a douche bag and she needs some answers before she can confess her undying love.

Buffy pushed away from Angel and ran inside. She leaned against the door and turned, looking through the peep hole. Great, now she was a stalker. He stood there, staring at the door. She didn't like the acceptance in his gaze. Wasn't he supposed to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness? Whatever. She had shit to do. Things to figure out. Lives to meddle in.


	4. Chapter 4

_What have I done?_ The thought kept going through Angel's mind. He was stunned and completely confused. He hadn't planned on fucking breaking up with her and then confessing his love. He. Was. An. Idiot.

Angel moved through the halls of the high school, it was two weeks to graduation, his graduation and then Buffy would be a senior. He still had to worry about college and all that bullshit, but he wasn't worried about that right now. Right now, he was concerned with the blonde goddess currently in a conversation with his brother.

Angel moved toward her while Connor made himself scarce. "Buffy." Angel greeted and she ignored him. She continued to shuffle around her locker, keeping her attention off of him.

"Listen, I want to talk about last night." He says and she turns, squinting at him. Then she looked away and slammed her locker shut, before walking away from him. He watched her go, feeling a sinking feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. Fuck. Fuckity. Fuck. Fuck.

He moved quickly, going to walk next to her. "I know you're mad at me. I get that. I deserve it." He says, but she didn't so much as cast him a glance. He might as well have been dead for all she cared. He wet his lips, before spinning and slamming his hand against the wall, causing her to screech to a halt. She growled and looked up at him.

"I'm sorry." He said, sincerely. She said nothing, just crossed her arms.

"Really, Buffy, I am sorry. Please, just let me explain." He begged and she crossed her arms.

"Fine, explain." She says and he glanced around, the hallways were becoming less and less crowded, but he didn't want to do it here. Hell, he didn't want to do it anywhere.

"Buffy . . . it's not good. It's _bad_. Like really, really bad." He murmured and Buffy nodded slowly.

"Two seconds, Angel." She says and his anger spiked.

"Buffy, I waited nearly four months for you. Why on earth-?" She didn't allow him to finish.

"Yes, Angel and in that time, you were still hiding something from me. Were we only working out my problems in that time period? Because I didn't find out about Kathy's sick past or the guy you put into a coma? Because I didn't learn about your fuck for nothing of a father? Why is it, that I can tell you something, but you need more time to tell me?" Buffy asked.

"My father killed people in front of me. There, you happy?" he growled and she blinked, the anger seemingly dissipating from his face. Angel growled and turned, punching a locker and ignoring the pain that shot through his arm. The dent in the metal was worth it. He kicked the wall, feeling like a child, but needing something to bring him back from that reality.

"Angel." Buffy's soft voice broke him from his reverie.

"I'm sorry, that I didn't want to explain that to you, Buffy." Angel snapped and Buffy flinched, looking away and letting her hair hide her face.

"Listen, okay, great. I don't need the whole story, that's not fair of me to ask that of you. Just – you can't keep taking these secret phone calls and texts and trying to hide this whole part of your life from me. It's not fair to either of us and from what I can tell about Ethan and Beatrice, secrets don't exactly fuel a relationship." She was not wrong. Angel knew this.

"You thought I was cheating on you?" He asked and Buffy's lips twitched.

"Yeah and I even thought that you had some secret love child or something." Buffy joked and Angel chuckled.

"No, no secret love child." Angel reassured and Buffy smiled that brilliant smile.

"Good, because I would rather not try my hand at parenthood." Buffy says and Angel cocks his head to the side.

"You don't want kids?" He asked, because while his childhood was shit, he wanted kids. She stared at him for a moment, a blush that was completely adorable heating her cheeks.

"Yeah – I want kids." She mumbles.

"When I'm done having a life. I mean, I'm only – well, eighteen tomorrow." She says and Angel tensed, then he moved forward.

"You weren't going to let me miss your birthday, right?" He asked and she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Well, what did you want me to do? We're fighting." She says.

"We were fighting and if we were still fighting and it was your birthday, I would expect you to wake me up at six in the morning with a bucket of ice water and command that I take you everywhere and anywhere. Duh." He says, giving her a look and she laughed.

"Everywhere and anywhere, huh?" She asked, crossing her arms and he nodded.

"Tomorrow is Saturday. It'll be tight, but I can work with that." Angel said nodding.

"Angel." Buffy says and Angel looks at her.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing big and things were said last night, things we can't just forget." Buffy says, ever the voice of reason. Angel sighs and grins at her, he had ideas for tomorrow and he wasn't going to let his fuck-up word vomit last night mess that up.

"Do-over. We can do do-overs and then we can death with the shit that was said another time. When I tell you everything." Angel says and Buffy's eyes narrow suspiciously.

"Why are you bouncing?" She asked. Was he? Oh, he hadn't noticed. He stopped.

"Because, I'm excited about tomorrow." Angel grinned from ear to ear.

"Nothing big, Angel." Buffy says, obviously agreeing with his bullshit do-over. He fucked up last night, but he was going to fix it.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." He went in for the kiss on the cheek, but she turned her head slight and captured his lips. He liked Buffy this way. Like really liked her. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her flush against him. God she was perfect. She was also driving him out of his mind. Which, he figured was a good thing. His mind wasn't exactly all sunshine and shitting rainbows.

He pulled back, her strawberry scent still lingering on his lips as her lavender and vanilla scent intoxicates the rest of his senses. His grip tightened possessively and her nails dug slightly into the skin of his neck. Fuck. He wanted her and it was becoming painful. Literally. He pulls himself away and clears his throat.

"Tomorrow." He says, his voice rough, even to his own ears. He kisses her quickly again before side-stepping her and making his way toward the exit of the school. He had things to plan and a cold shower to take.


	5. Chapter 5

Buffy stared at the six and a half foot mass of a man trying to climb through her window. Usually he was extremely graceful and Buffy figured his excitement was making him clumsy. She didn't mind, though, Angel was cute when he was clumsy. He cursed and Buffy's face split into a grin that hurt as he got his foot stuck.

"Why aren't windows built large enough for all types of sizes?" He mumbles to himself and Buffy couldn't hold it in anymore. She burst into laughter and Angel, oh poor Angel, he jumped out of his skin.

"Jesus." He muttered as Buffy continued to laugh.

"Ha. Ha." Angel said dryly, finally able to get his massive frame through the small square opening in the wall. He crawled onto her bed and she smiled, resting her hands on either side of his neck. He placed his knees carefully on either side of her, so he didn't crush her completely.

"Happy Birthday." He whispered against her cheek and she smiled softly, turning her head and capturing his lips with hers. The kiss didn't last long and anxiety pooled in Buffy's stomach as she tried to find the courage it was going to take to tell him of her problem.

"I don't want to make a big deal about this. It's just another day, Angel, really it's not a big deal." She mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"Buffy." Angel said with serious exasperation.

"You're eighteen and I know it's not as exciting as twenty-one, you know, no beer at a bar – but it's eighteen and you are an official legal adult, I dub you in." He taps each of her shoulder like a king swearing a knight into service. She only rolled her eyes, even as love blossomed in her belly

He rests his hands on either side of her head. "So, I should cancel the fireworks and air show?" He asked, seriously and she gasped, slapping his shoulder. He chuckled.

"Buffy, I'm kidding. But seriously, you're eighteen, you can vote for Christ's sake." He says it like it is one of the most important things on the planet.

"I hate politics." Buffy reminded him, squinting up at Angel and he sighs.

"Fine, um, you can live on your own. I'm sure you can do a ton of other shit that you couldn't do yesterday – why don't you like your birthday?" He asks softly and Buffy sighed, slumping under him. She ran her fingers along the column of his neck, feeling strength rippling underneath the flesh.

"We didn't celebrate birthdays. And if there was a celebration it wasn't . . . Fun. Mom would always been on edge with the kids. Dad would either be drunk or really embarrassing, or both. It's just not a good day and I'm done with all of this memory lane bullshit, so . . ." Buffy trailed off suggestively, before gripping the collar of his shirt and pulling his head down, and just as their mouths touched, he caught her chin keeping her from pressing her lips any harder.

"Let me make this a good day for you." He whispers and she blinks, he was pleading her with those chocolate Browns and just like the love struck idiot she was, she caved.

"Fine, but no parties and nothing extravagant." She says and she fucking meant that. She didn't care how much she loved him, she would boycott the party and kill him if he even thought of making a spectacle of this shitty day.

"Fine I'll call off the doves, Jesus Buffy, you're acting like I don't know you. I got this and I got you. Do you think I'd ever put you through something that would make you uncomfortable or make you remember that psychopath? The answer is no, no I wouldn't. Now, blonde goddess, get up and get ready, make sure to wear a bathing suit under your casual clothes."

Angel pecked her stunned lips softly and swiftly before getting off the bed. She stood up a beat after him and stared up into his eyes. "Angel?" She asked, her voice soft and thoughtful. He looked down at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, princess?" He asked and she opened her mouth, anticipation making her body jump up, but nothing except air came from her lips, those three little words staying completely buried.

"Thanks." She deflated and his eyes narrowed gently, before he nodded.

"Sure thing, Buffy. Anything and everything for you." He winked and she shoved him playfully at the line, he only laughed. The thing about that line, no matter how corny it was, her heart melted all the same because deep down she knew he meant every word.

* * *

A blindfold. She never, ever in a million years thought she would trust a man enough to be alone in the same room with him, let alone allow one to take one of her basic senses away by blindfolding her, but all Angel had to do was ask. It was slightly irritating that he was so deep under her skin, she still can't believe that she forgave him for their fight, he had actually hurt her.

She sat in the passenger seat of his car, silently fuming. "Buffy it's just a surprise." Angel murmured and she huffed.

"Great, I'm not pissed about that. I'm pissed about our fight the other day." She hissed and the car slowed before pulling off to the side of the road.

"We're going into this right now? What about the do-over?" He asked softly, pulling her blindfold free and she crossed her arms.

"Turns out I'm not a do-over kind of gal." She says keeping her body angled from his.

"Buffy." He says and she glanced at him, then she glared.

"You hurt me, do you get that?" She asked, eyes narrowed.

"Do you know how hard it – no, never mind that, do I have to constantly worry about you pulling another Jekyll and Hyde act? Because seriously Angel, you were an asshole and I like you because you're not an asshole." Buffy pointed out and Angel ran his hands over his face.

"I know and I told you that I had just visited my dad and the shit that happened when I was a kid – Buffy I wanted to push you away, okay? Just like you wanted to push me away with the whole Kathy issue, last I checked, you avoided me for weeks, that turned into months, so yes, I was an asshole and I regret it, but I have my reasons just like you did." He told her what she already knew.

She ran her hands through her hair before rubbing them along her bare thighs. "I know." She whispered, glancing over at him.

He ran the tips of his fingers down her jaw before pushing her hair back behind her ear. "Stop doing that." He murmured suddenly and she blinked.

"Doing what?" She asked, like she didn't already know what he meant.

"Using already resolved issues to give you an excuse to push me away, again. I'm never going to hurt you, not if I can help it and I'm very good at helping it. If you don't want to wear the blindfold then just close your pretty eyes and wait." See that? The way he reads her tightly shut walls like an opened book? The way he just knows what she's doing, because he was apparently born with the ability to see past her bullshit? Yeah, that was Angel.

"Fine, I'll close my eyes, but I swear Angel, if you talk to me the way you did the other day again – I will hit you somewhere else on your body and I promise you, my hand will be closed into a fist and you'll be walking like a penguin for a month." She smiled sweetly and he chuckled.

"I believe you." He said and she smirked, closing her eyes and patiently waiting for her surprise.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, sorry for the false chapter, but I've been having some technical difficulties with my reviews. They just aren't showing up. So, can you guys please, please just type something into the review box to see if anything comes up?**

 **Thank you and have a great day. Updates are underway.**


End file.
